The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to communication antennas and identification antennas, such as for vehicular installations.
Antennas are used for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic radiation for communication applications, identifications applications, and the like. Some antennas use vertically polarized antennas to efficiently transmit and receive vertically polarized signals. For example, vertical polarization is commonly used for aircraft communications and identification applications. Monopole and monocone antennas are types of vertically polarized antennas. For a typical monopole or monocone installation, the antenna is one quarter wavelength in height above the mounting surface, such as above the aircraft surface. The antenna creates aerodynamic drag and the antennas can easily be damaged due to their protrusion above the surface. Merely shortening the antenna increases the inductance of the antenna, which detrimentally affects the performance of the antenna. A need remains for a conformal vertically-polarized antenna for particular applications, such as installation on airborne platforms including commercial, military and general aviation platforms.